Closed door talks

On their new LP Closed Door Talks, Rhode Island’s own Wild Sun has honed their engaging, guitar-forward Rock & Roll to a keen edge. Full of heart and free of post-modern irony, Closed Door Talks is crisp, refreshingly rough around the edges, and feels immediately familiar. The follow up to their Bryce Goggin-produced (Pavement, Phish), debut LP Little Truths, the record finds the band elevating their art with a new emphasis on focused, thoughtful playing, while retaining the minimally-arranged, song-first approach to songwriting that has become their signature.

Little Truths, released in the fall of 2015 via American Laundromat Records, was well received; it broke the Top 200 at college radio, and Motif Magazine placed it in their “Top 20” of the year, alongside Wilco and Kendrick Lamar. In April of 2016, the band released the two-song Rigby EP, once again working with Bryce Goggin. As their profile continued to grow, the band had the opportunity to play hundreds of shows and share the stage with the likes of Eve 6, Blitzen Trapper, Rubblebucket, Langhorne Slim, and more, and were featured on the Elliott Smith tribute, Say Yes, among artists like J Mascis, Julien Baker, and Amanda Palmer.

“When it came time for a new record, we stopped playing shows for a while” explains vocalist / guitar player and primary songwriter Glenn Thomas. Instead of the usual process of writing followed by recording, the band took a different tack. Posting up at The Mercury Floor recording studio in Stonington, CT when the muse struck, the nearly year-long process of on and off recording let the band refine the music, pairing the songs down to their essential core. “We decided to stretch out the process. To let the songs breathe, and take on their own musical narrative” says Thomas; “an opposed to banging it out in one quick week.”

Joining Thomas, Paul Fazio and Cameron Raubeson from Little Truths returned to play bass and drums on the album, with additional drums by Paul’s brother Padriac and Thomas. Thomas handled all guitar and vocal duties. Tracking complete, the record was delivered to Bryce Goggin for mixing and Joe Lambert (The National) for mastering.

Written with deliberate intent, in a small town within a tiny state, the music on Closed Door Talks feels close and comfortable while speaking to the universal. “These are not forlorn whiskey love songs of the south, or road songs of the west,” explains Thomas, “rather struggles a friend might confide in a run-down dive bar in whatever town you might find yourself.”

In an age where most present a polished version of their life to world through social media, Closed Door Talks brings the listener behind the curtain and into a place where real life happens. These are the conversations between friends and lovers, shared among trusted ears, out of the public eye. “I think one of the greatest things a song can do is put into words something you felt but were never able to express” says Thomas. “That moment reinforces what connects us, and what it is to be human — both the good and the bad.